Technical Field
The present invention relates to an obstacle detection apparatus.
Related Art
Conventionally, a vehicle-mounted apparatus is known that is configured to detect an obstacle using a radar, and if a predicted collision time to collision with the obstacle is at or below a predetermined threshold, activate an alert or warning (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 1998-119673).
In such a vehicle, the threshold for determining when to activate the alert may be varied according to user preference. An axial direction of a radar and a longitudinal direction of the vehicle would usually coincide with each other, but these directions may be deviated for any reason. The misalignment of the radar axial direction from the longitudinal direction of the vehicle may cause an obstacle (e.g., guardrail or the like) that is not actually located in front of the vehicle to be incorrectly determined as being located in front of the vehicle. In such an event, a low user-set threshold may cause the alert to be activated for the obstacle that is not actually located in front of the vehicle.
In consideration of the foregoing, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing an obstacle detection apparatus capable of preventing outputting an unnecessary signal.